Aiming for the skies: Actor Abhay Verma dives into his role in Operation Safed Sagar

Abhay Verma as Flying Officer RS Dhaliwal in Operation Safed Sagar series

The conversation with Abhay Verma felt less like a formal interview and more like a chat with a friend. He was warm, candid, and remarkably open, moving easily between talking about the responsibility of playing a real-life Air Force officer, the emotional weight of wearing the uniform, and the unexpected attention that has followed the success of the series Operation Safed Sagar: The Untold Story of the Kargil War.

Verma had internalised the character of Flying Officer Rajpal Singh Dhaliwal, or Dhali. His biggest challenge was understanding the mindset of a soldier who puts everyone else before himself. "It was more than physical. Just the mentality of being a selfless warrior who will do anything to protect their country," he explains.

In preparing for the role, Verma tried to understand Dhaliwal, who died in 2009, and what it meant to live with that kind of selflessness. "Just to be that selfless and, you know, just to protect your surroundings and make sure everyone lives freely, sleeps, and are at home comfortably while we do our job. Just a selfless attitude of putting others before yourself."

Abhay Verma

The uniform, however, became an emotional experience of its own. Verma says that every time he wore it, a surge of emotions would unload within himself. "As soon as I used to wear the uniform every day, I would definitely cry. I would feel emotional." He recalls a line from the show - "Yeh uniform cheez hi aisi hai sir, koi raah chahta hai, isko koi khareed ke pehen thodi sakta hai" - and says he came to understand its meaning while filming.

"I really feel that every soldier is a God's child, and not everyone gets to wear this uniform," he says. For Verma, wearing it meant carrying the weight of the 757 soldiers who were martyred during the Kargil War. "A son from a family who didn't come back because he was protecting his country. I don't think anybody deserves to not come back home to their family."

That sense of responsibility extended beyond the shoot. Verma says the creative decisions he makes are ones he prefers to own entirely. "I don't want anybody to be blamed for a creative call that I took," he says. He is particularly proud that the show has also brought attention to his brother, who serves in the Indian Army. "My brother is in the Indian Army and people are giving him a lot of love because of me and I am very proud of him and his service."

Since the show's release, Verma has been dubbed the "national crush"which he is still figuring out how to respond to. "I honestly take whatever name they want to call me by, if it's with love," he says, before adding that he would rather be seen as "husband material".

The usually shy actor says the sheer volume of affection has left him visibly embarrassed. "A friend was sitting with me just the other day and I was going through the comments and she literally saw my cheeks going red." He laughs about being unable to hide his feelings, admitting, "I'm a shy person in my personal life." But the uniform has given that newfound attention a very different meaning for him. He says he would feel "undeserving" wearing Dhaliwal's uniform and describes the respect with which the cast treated it. "We would respectfully just fold it as an
Army official would. We would keep it with respect, touch it as if I'm touching my mother's feet, and kiss it before putting it away."

The pressure, he says, was comparable to that of an athlete representing India. And portraying Dhaliwal brought its own emotional responsibility. He describes meeting his daughter became one of the most moving moments of the process. "When I met his daughter, she was finding a little bit of him in me, and I was finding a little bit of him in her," he says, "She was looking for her father in my eyes and I was looking for a hint of Dhaliwal sir in her eyes."

Ultimately, Verma believes the show has given him a deeper gratitude for the people behind the stories of war. "I think these stories need to be told. Just for the sake of realising what beautiful country we live in, how courageous our soldiers are, and how much the meal that is on our plate means. It would have taken me years to become this thankful and grateful, maybe, and Operation Safed Sagar did just that for me."